The Antics of 8A

Part 4 - Where's Joel?

this photo shall be referenced to in the chappy so keep your eyes peeled 0.0

this is also rly important so ..

-

The students snatched their belongings and bags from their seats and bag compartments and slowly piled out of the plane, thanking the Quantas staff as they exited the carriage. A blast of hot air hit them as each child stepped over the threshold, staggering back slightly from the Brazilian heat. Most of 8A had felt rather chilly sitting in the aircraft, for the air-conditioning had been turned all the way up. Now they finally understood why.

"Oh ma Gawd," Sienna said as she ascended the stairs from the aero-plane towards the ground. "Why so hot? This is why the Brazilian girls have such good tans."

"I was prepared," said Johanna proudly, rummaging through her black Nike back pack and pulling out a Jets cap. She slipped it on her head and smiled.

Everyone groaned at the sight of the hat.

"It doesn't even belong to you," said Georgia, who was the actual owner of the cap.

"Sports academy wannabe!" Benson smirked at Johanna.

"What?" Johanna replied with her natural sarcastic voice. "I like this hat."

"You are officially the biggest white girl I've ever met," Lucette told her as the class followed Mr. Freeman towards one of the airport's many entrances.

"Whatever," Johanna flicked her long, shiny light brown hair at her friends.

Then Molly swiftly snatched the cap off her head, earning a small cheer from the rest of the group and a playful gasp from Johanna, who knew she had no chance of retrieving the hat. So, instead, she took a hoodie from her back pack and slung it over her head to shelter it from the burning sun. Everyone laughed at Johanna's makeshift hat who pouted as Georgia pulled out her iPhone 6 and took a quick photo of Johanna. [Spot the reference haha lol.]

"Now everyone is to stay together as a group, ok? We don't want anyone to go missing," Mr. Freeman called over his shoulder, interrupting their little joke.

The class were already hot and bothered from the unfamiliar heat.

"This is like 'Straya in the middle of Christmas Holidays," said Zac to no one in particular.

"At least we are out of the horrible winter, I hate winter in Melbs," said Angus.

"I wonder if Brazil ever gets that cold," said Natalie. The whole class continued to walk in silence, to hot to speak.

There was a big sigh of relief when the group walked into the air-conditioned airport, appreciating the chillies of the air.

"Grouse air-cons," said typical Dimitri, which made the group laugh.

Mr. Freeman lead the class to a large siting area with soft couches, much like the one back at the Melbourne airport.

He turned to the group, "you have exactly ten minutes to pee, change into cooler clothing, eat, chat and do whatever. You must be back in ten."

He turned and took a book out of his man bag, signaling to everyone that the ten minutes had started. The students scattered, some grabbing food, some began to talk but most unzipped their carry bags, pulling out changes of clothes and racing off to the nearest toilet block.

After a short while, they all raced back again, not eager to face Mr. Freeman's consequences for tardiness. Seeing that the class had gathered around in the sitting area in the correct time frame, Mr. Freeman pulled out his role for what to be the fiftieth time since the group had left Melbourne.

"Finn?" Mr. Freeman began.

"Yep," Finn returned, looking up from his back pack that he was stuffing with the clothes he'd just changed out of.

"Sienna Barker?"

Sienna smiled at him, Mr. Freeman acknowledging her grin and marked her name off the list.

"Georgia?"

Mr. Freeman slowly read down the names of 8A, checking each one off as he went until he reached Joel.

"Mister Vella?" he read it out with a small laugh.

However, he didn't receive a reply.

"Joel? Joel."

Joel was no where to be seen. The class peered around, searching for their friend that had apparently disappeared.

"Joel!" Stephen called, but still, no reply came.

"Where did he go?" said Claire quietly to no one in particular.

"Oh shit, this is bad," said Phillipa.

"Maybe he is still in the toilet. He raced me there but I don't remember him coming back with me," Angus told the rest.

"No one panick. Ok, little man," said Mr. Freeman directed calmly at Angus, "go back to rest rooms with Stefan to see if Joel's there."

"Ok! Be right back," said Angus over his shoulder who was already running towards the bathrooms, Stefan struggling to run beside him because of his stress fracture and his massive boot.

Mr. Freeman turned back to his class, still looking quite calm, no sign of worry in his eyes and asked, "Is his back pack there?"

Alex wondered over to where the where stacks of bags piled around the couch. He sifted through them, occasionally picking up a bag to inspect whether or not it belonged to Joel.

"No," he reported to Mr. Freeman when he didn't find Joel's bag, "he probably is carrying it with him."

"He couldn't have gone that far, don't worry guys." Molly said, "plus we have a couple minutes of quiet time."

Everyone chortled uneasily, trying to lighten up the awkward mood.

A little while later, Angus and Stefan came running around the corner back to the lounge area. There was no sign of Joel.

"He's not there," Stefan said gravely, gazing over at his friends. Angus stood beside him, slightly out of breath from the small bit of running. Stefan - even though he had an injury - seemed to be exactly the same after the short amount of exercise, as if he hadn't run at all.

"Ok," Mr. Freeman said, loosing his calm state just a little and running his hand through his heavily gelled back hair, "we'll split up. It may delay our traveling time, but we must find Joel. Meet me back here in an hour."

The group spread out into small groups, leaving the small area, taking their bags with them and their teacher behind.

What they didn't know, however, was that this was going to be the last time they would see Mr. Freeman again in a long time.

-

trust Joel to go missing